Dáil amendment No. 194 is a technical amendment to provide for the reference to the “Act of 2019” to mean the Local Government Rates and Other Matters Act 2019.
Dáil amendment No. 195 substitutes section 4 of the Local Government Rates and Other Matters Act 2019 and contains a number of technical amendments. I will outline the notable amendments.
First is an amendment to include reference to an existing valuation list under section 4(1). An “existing valuation list” refers to valuations carried out prior to revaluations under the Valuation Act 2001. To date, 23 local authorities have been revalued under Part 5 of the Valuation Act 2001 and a further six local authorities are being revalued this year. These local authorities are subject to valuation lists caused to be published by the Commissioner of Valuation under section 23 of that Act. The remaining local authorities are subject to an "existing valuation list" and would not be able to levy rates under this Act without this amendment.
Second is an amendment to the formula calculating the amount of rates to be levied under section 4(2) to include reference to a date on which such calculation is made. There is currently ambiguity in that the section does not identify the valuation list on a specific date to be used in the levying of the rate. The rate is to be calculated on the last day of the previous local financial year, that is, 31 December.
Third is an amendment to section 4(3) to provide that the rate is due and payable on the first day of the financial year rather than explicitly stating 1 January as there is provision in legislation to enable the Minister to change the start of the local authority financial year to another date.
Fourth, the use of the terms “owner” and “occupier” in section 4 is considered to be problematic and legal advice received by the Department confirms the need to consider the appropriateness of the use of the terms. Section 4(4) has been amended to refer to a “liable person” where appropriate.
Fifth is an amendment to section 4(5) to include that a rates bill shall be given by a rating authority to a liable person in four circumstances: first, at the beginning of the year when the local authority imposes rates; second, where a valuation of a relevant property is amended pursuant to section 28 of the Valuation Act 2001 where there is a revision of a valuation during the year; third, where a valuation of a relevant property is amended on foot of the outcome of an appeal pursuant to section 38 of the Valuation Act 2001; or fourth, where there is a subsequent liable person during the year, for example, a person who was not the liable person who received the original rates bill at the beginning of the year. All circumstances exist currently but there is no legal basis for circumstances two through four.
Sixth, reference to section 38 of the Valuation Act 2001 is being included in section 4(4)(b). Section 38 of the Valuation Act 2001 provides for amendment of the valuation list following a decision of the Valuation Tribunal, High Court or Supreme Court. The power to amend the rate levied during the year on foot of the outcome of the appeal was omitted by oversight in the original Act and this is now being remedied.
Amendments to section 5 are intended to provide that a rate book prepared by a local authority, which may be stored electronically, will satisfy the requirements under section 65 of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act 1838. This will effectively remove the antiquated requirement from the 1838 Act of making a physical rate book.
Another is an amendment to remove section 9(10). This removes the requirement of the local authority to inform an applicant in writing within three months of the outcome of their vacancy abatement application. This is necessary because local authorities will not make a vacancy abatement determination in many cases until the end of the financial year.
Amendments to section 10 include the following: first, an amendment to section 10(1) to clarify that the reference to a database (singular) does not preclude local authorities from using other databases, for example, customer, billing databases ordinarily used in the rates function; second, an amendment to section 10(2) to insert a field on the database for the name of the person entitled to occupy an unoccupied relevant property, for example, if vacant, where there is no occupier; third, a new subsection (2A)(a) to be inserted to provide that the rating authority is notified by the liable person when that person becomes aware that any particular entered in the database in relation to themselves or the relevant property is incorrect or has ceased to be correct; and fourth, a new subsection (2A)(b) to be inserted to provide for a sanction on a liable person for failing to notify under section 10(2A)(a) without reasonable excuse, such sanction to be that the person is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a class A fine.
Section 11 of the Local Government Rate and Other Matters Act 2019 is a restatement of sections 32(2) and 32(4) of the Local Government Reform Act 2014. The original intention of the provision in the 2014 Act was to ensure that any unpaid rates due at the time of change of occupation or ownership are paid and to impose a duty to inform a rating authority of a change in occupation or ownership. Subsequent to the enactment of the 2014 Act, there were significant difficulties with the interpretation and implementation of section 32. For reasons of expediency and pressure to publish the 2019 Bill, copies of sections 32(2) and 32(4) of the 2014 Act were inserted to fulfil the instructions in the heads of the general scheme.
Section 11, that is, the part copy of section 32 from the 2014 Act on duty to inform, is to be replaced with a new provision to oblige a liable person to inform the local authority when there is a change of person liable for rates in respect of relevant property.
This amendment provides that a person who ceases to be a liable person or who becomes a liable person or who changes their status as a liable person shall give notice in writing of that fact to the local authority. A person who contravenes this section is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a class A fine. Sections 10 on the database of relevant properties and 11 on the duty to inform the rating authority of transfer of relevant property are thus to be simplified and to work together to provide that information crucial to the effective levying of rates is maintained and updated as necessary.
Dáil amendment No. 200 provides for the prescribing of the rate of interest on overdue rates in case the interest rate specified in the Act is to be changed in the future. Section 13, as currently worded, provides that an owner selling a relevant property would be liable for all outstanding rates and interest imposed under the Act, which may include rates and interest levied on another party, for example, a separate occupier of the relevant property. The section is being amended to clarify that the liable person who owns a relevant property and who proposes to sell the property shall, before the sale, pay to the local authority any rates and interest imposed under the Act which are due and payable by that liable person only, and not due and payable by a previous occupier.
The provision that taxes or charges due and payable by a liable person are required to be paid before the sale of the property is consistent with a similar provision in respect of the local property tax and previously the household charge and the non-principal private residence charge. A new subsection (3) provides for a sanction to be imposed on a liable person should that person sell a relevant property without first discharging the requirement to pay any rates and accrued interest due and payable to the local authority. Such sanction is to be that the person is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.
Dáil amendment No. 202 is an amendment to subsection (1) to refer to "an owner's capacity as a liable person" rather than an "owner" to keep consistency with the Act. A new subsection (2A) is inserted to ensure that a charge on a property does not remain a charge post sale, meaning that a charge from a previous owner’s unpaid rates does not remain on the property post sale.
Section 17 is being amended to clarify that a warrant issued by a judge of the District Court is not required to enter a relevant property that does not contain a dwelling within. A drafting error in the subsection as it stands references the power to enter a relevant property as being subject to subsection (3) whereas the correct reference should have been to subsection (2).
The policy intention is that an authorised officer may, for the purposes of assessing an application under section 9 - an application for abatement of rates in respect of a vacant property - enter at all reasonable times a relevant property and inspect the property. In addition, the authorised officer may not enter a dwelling, or a property other than a relevant property, other than with either the consent of the occupier or pursuant to a warrant issued by the District Court.
A new section 19A is being included to ensure that commencement of this Act will not adversely impact sections 65 and 106 of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act 1838. This new section is deemed to be required as section 61 of 1838 Act, which currently provides for the levying of rates, is to be repealed and this has consequential impact on sections 65 and 106.
I am nearly there.
